The Downs under 14 boys footballers
returned from the Kingdom on Friday night last with the ComÃ³rtas Peile John
Egan division 2 title after a 3 day festival of football. Organised by Kerry
GAA as part of The Gathering, this inaugural tournament pays tribute to one of
the all-time great Kerry forwards John Egan from Sneem who passed away in
suddenly on 8th April 2012 at the age of 59. His achievements in
football included 6 All-Irelands, 9 Munster titles, 4 National League and 5
All-stars with the famous green and gold.

The Downs were hosted by by Killarneyâs
Dr. Crokes and the current Kerry and Munster champions proved to be marvellous
hosts. 17 teams from Kerry were joined by 15 teams from all over Ireland and
were placed in groups of 4 with The Downs facing their hosts Dr. Crokes,
another Killarney side Legion and Eadestown of Kildare. On Wednesday, a narrow
defeat to the Crokes in the first round was followed up with impressive wins
over Legion and Eadestown.

Later that evening, the remainder of the
29 strong panel from The Downs played their hosts in an under 13 challenge
which gave an opportunity to the fringe players to stake a place on the team
which ended up with an impressive victory for the visiting black and ambers.
After a boat tour of the beautiful sun-drenched lakes kindly organised by Dr
Crokes, it was assumed the day could not possibly get any better. However on
return to the Crokes clubhouse, the hosts has arranged a get-together with
Kerry stars Colm Cooper, Kerry captain Eoin Brosnan and their team mate Johnny
Buckley. Not a bad way to end the day, chatting with some of the top stars of
gaelic football.

The Downsâ opponents for the Fridayâs
Final were Kerryâs Glenfesk but the blue and gold had to give way to the side
from Westmeath lads who secured the title in temperatures of 30+ in Fitzgerald
Stadium on a final score of 1-10, 0-9. Kerry and Glenfesk legend Seamus
Moynihan presented the trophy to The Downs captains Joseph Moran and CiarÃ¡n
Nolan at the same venue where Eoin Brosnan had received the Munster
Championship title on the previous Sunday for Kerry. Seamus Moynihan also spoke
in the dressing room afterwards and shared some excellent words of wisdom that
the lads will remember for a long time. So the journey back to The Downs on
Friday evening was somewhat shorter for the lads with some silverware to show
for their hard work over the 3 days. Incidently, The Downs were the only boys
team outside of Kerry to win a title so that achievement is something this
group of players should be very proud of.
Panel: Eanna Burke, Jack Carroll, Keith Carroll, Donal Coughlan, Matthew
Cunningham, Taylor Daly, Tyrone Devine, Cillian Fagan, Liam Faulkner, Conor
Gavin, Adam Gilbride, Joshua Heneghan, Dylan Hunt, Richard Kelly, Euan Lagan,
Jonathan Lynam, Ryan Mannering, Trevor Martin, Mark McCann, Mikey McGrath, Luke
Maguire, Darragh Monaghan, Joseph Moran, Ryan Moran, Oisin Murphy, Joseph
Robson, Max Rowan, Stephen Wynne. Team Mentors: Paddy Monaghan, Ciaron Martin,
Paul Rowan, Marc Cunningham.